First Time in England

READER

Chapter 14 — First lesson in a new class

There are now two Spanish students in Anne Evan's class. Arturo from the north of Spain and Rosa from Madrid. Anne is happy to have twelve students because they can all do pair work! Rosa is happy because the level is more difficult. On the board, there is a list of irregular verbs in the Past Simple:

1. lost

8. came

15. became

2. felt

9. went

16. hid

3. saw

10. were

17. lay

4. said

11. ate

18. stood

5. led

12. heard

19. woke up

6. was

13. got out

20. told

7. rang

14. had

Anne gives her students very clear instructions: "I'd like Rosa to sit next to Yukiko so that we've got six pairs. You all have a copy of the list of words on the board. I'm going to tell you a short story. Listen carefully and tick the words you hear."

Rosa does not have a copy of the word list, but Yukiko is very kind. The two students share one photocopy. They do not disturb their teacher. Anne starts her story:

"Yesterday, on my way home from school, I lost all my money. Suddenly, I felt very hungry, but at the same moment I saw an interesting sign. It said: FREE FOOD, THIS WAY! The sign led to a nice restaurant, but it was closed. I rang the door bell. Nobody came so I went inside. On the first table, there were three plates of sushi. I ate two of them. Then I heard the noise of a taxi. A large man got out. He had two glasses of saki in his hands. I became afraid and hid under the table. I lay there for nearly an hour while the large man stood by the door. Then I woke up. The man by the door was my husband. He told me that it was morning and that I was in my own bedroom. In his hands, he had two cups of strong, black coffee."

Anne is a good teacher and her lessons have a lot of variety. The students have to tell the same story again to their pair work partners, but first they have to ask questions in the Past Simple. Anne is listening carefully to her new student. She tells Rosa that there are two types of questions with the words WHO, WHAT, HOW MUCH and HOW MANY . Then she writes some examples on the board for all the class to see:

Who lost all her money?

Anne

did.

SUBJECT

Who got out of the taxi?

A large man

did.

SUBJECT

How many glasses of saki did he have?

Two

.

OBJECT

What did Anne lose?

All her money.

OBJECT

How much sushi did Anne eat?

A lot

.

OBJECT

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